A/N: I wanted to add some Annabeth family cuteness but Athena will resume her quest next chapter. I have to work on my other stories. I really shouldn't start any new stories without finishing the ones I'm currently working but… Does Athena curse? I think she would since she's always hanging out with either college students or professors and stuff.

It was ridiculous how often gods got there stuff stolen by demigods. Athena was not exempt to this: she had many valuable weapons, books, and artifacts. She just never expected to get robbed by a four year old at a zoo but she really should have known better. Fred had been stressed lately and Athena thought it would best to get him out of the house before he detonated. She had suggested the zoo for many reasons, particularly because she was a city goddess and it's been a while since she's been anywhere near wild life. She could always hangout with Artemis but being so far away from civilization made her uneasy; that's why zoos were so awesome, it was as close to nature she could get without exiting the nice toxic gas fumes in the air.

It was a nice day out, spring had come and soft white clouds masked the sun and there was a nice breeze ruffling Fred's hair. Athena was suspicious right away. Annabeth was a demigod and demigods were magnets for trouble and with the whole kidnapping thing going around she was very alert. The parking lot wasn't packed and eager little children pulled their parents hands to hurry. Athena was glad her kids weren't as ADHD as other demigods. Fred seemed at ease for once.

"Hey is it weird that I'm not freaked out," He asked her and Athena confused didn't know what he was talking about.

"It's a zoo Fred, hundreds of mortals come yearly, and there isn't any good valid reason for this to be odd." He shook his head.

"No, like when you're in middle school or high school and they give you the sheet of paper asking where you want to be in 5, 10, 15 years; I put marriage and kids around 10-15 years from now for when I'm 30 or 35 but here we are and I don't feel scared even though I'm 22 recently out of college and now we're having a family day out to the zoo; A normal mortal man who got the attention of a powerful goddess and our little girl Annabeth who you gave birth to from your head." He said finishing his speech and a tense awkward air surrounded them, Athena stared at him not showing anything on her face but her eyes as always looked like they were thinking of millions of things at once and Annabeth stared up at both of them from her light blue stroller. He expected Athena to say something witty or turn him into an owl.

"Well, I never expected to be swallowed before being born but hey that's life. You should see it as a challenge to overcome and you know what they say, when the gods give you a present you should either discard it as cunningly as possible or take it and try to act with gratitude," Athena paused thinking "never accept anything that's hidden inside a jar or box., bad idea" Fred remembered the Pandora myth.

"Aren't women supposed to be a curse as well?"

"If we're going with that logic than so would humans be considered a burden to animals and earth."

"Point, Ravenclaw." He said in Snape voice and she guffawed leaning over holding her sides.

"Go, now!" Annabeth commanded and her parents looked at each other like can you believe this shrimp. They smiled at each other, all forgotten and paid for their entrance. Fred was at peace until Athena's hand shot out and stopped him.

"What?" he asked but her eyes were narrowed and trained on someone else. He looked to where she was looking a few yards in away from them. Standing near where two brown bears were was a strange boy. He had long hair, curled at the end like waves, and his hair and eyes were as crimson as the loveliest rose. His light brown skin made his eyes pop out and he had a very devious smirk on his face. He looked no older than 15 and wore a black robe and everyone seemed to steer clear of him though nobody seemed to be actually be able to see him beside Fred, Athena, and Annabeth.

"Fuck me." Athena sighed rubbing her forehead in strain. "Just in case the universe takes that literally, I'm kidding." Athena puts her hand behind Fred's back and led him to another path. Fred glanced back and saw the boy staring right at him with a devils smile and waving. A cold feeling rushed over him and Athena pushed him a bit harder.

"Don't make eye contact." She enjoined and Fred could see a light golden glow coming off of Athena and feel it too, the hand pressing behind his back was starting to burn his back.

"What are you doing? Who is that?" he asked when they were further away. Athena mulled it over her head and rolled her shoulders, sighing.

"That was stupid and unnecessary. I was accidentally releasing a squint of my power trying to show dominance even though I was running away." She shook her head. "I should have sensed him in there, wow that was really bad luck."

"Who was he? And why did you have to reveal your power?" Athena observed the people around them before answering him.

"I told you, that was Bad Luck." Fred blinked.

"Bad luck!" Athena nodded. "Like black cat and broken mirrors bad luck?"

"He's from the Japanese pantheon. Never got to really meet him before now." Athena admitted. She stared at Fred and he understood that she was giving him a choice on what to do. He didn't need a clearer sign to know that today was going to be a bad day but it might go bad whether they were here, driving home, or at home. He desperately wanted to ask her if she was stronger than bad luck but Athena, even if she was painfully honest sometimes, could argue skillfully that she was stronger than anyone. Athena had also told him before that power in the spiritual world wasn't black and white, and that the god's hierarchy pyramid did not always work. There were forces even stronger than Zeus she had once admitted to him. Still now that he thought about it wasn't Athena or her brother or something if born was supposed to overthrow Zeus himself. He would just have to be confident in Athena's ability to protect and Annabeth would be terribly disappointed if they left now.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"Seals, I want to go see the seals." Was his answer.

Except for the attack of the birds moments everything was going great. They had been walking leisurely when dropping from the sky was flock of varied birds surrounded them and people started pointing. Owls, ravens, hawks and eagles all tried to speak to Athena apparently and the baby birds all cuddled with Annabeth who might have as well been in heaven with the way she was hugging them, giggling and stroking their feathers. Workers tried to catch the birds with their nets thinking they had escaped but Athena gave them one murderous look and they all backed away fearfully. Hi, I'm with my kid and her father right now but I'd love to talk to you guys in a less populated area later. After a five minute trip to the restrooms to brush off all the feathers on a grinning Annabeth they resumed and checked out the bored pacing lions, giant floating hippos, scuffling penguins, and funny iguanas.

Annabeth had been thrilled, her grey eyes fixed on the foreign animals caged in. When they had gone to the barn animal section, the area where children and the animals could interact, the horses crowded around Athena like dude, help me out to which Athena replied sorry guys that isn't my job but if it makes you feel better I'll speak to the owner on your behalf. That was good enough for them, donuts was what they mostly asked for. It wasn't until she turned around that she saw Fred looking at her with a worried confused expression but Annabeth found everything pretty normal and reached out to touch a baby goat.

"Did you just…"

"What?"

"The horses…did you… but how?" A sweat rolled off Fred's poker face.

"I told you I can speak most languages in the world."

"But…all of them?" Athena nodded and scratched the back of her head slightly embarrassed. "The more I find out about you the more you strike me as odd."

"Let's change the last word to unique shall we." That's when a small, blond, boy bumped into her.

"Oh, sorry miss."

"No problem kid." Fred patted the boy softly in the shoulder giving him a kind smile to which the boy returned. Without warning Athena lifted the boy pinning his short arms to his side. The boy's happy, innocent face changed to scared and confused.

"Athena, what are you doing?!" Fred looked around sure that someone was going to kick them out for assaulting a child but it was like everyone had gone blind and deaf to Athena's outrageous action.

"Alright, twerp, hand it over." Athena said it the way an older annoyed sister would.

"What, let go, before I yell for my mom!" he screamed.

"By all means please do. I'd love to see her face when you give me back what you stole."

"What?" Both Fred and the boy said.

"It was subtle almost didn't feel you. I give you that." The truth was she hadn't felt him take anything from her and the only reason she knew that he had was because she had touched his skin and the memory of his crime transferred into her.

"I didn't take anything!" He exclaimed wiggling in her firm but not painful grasp.

"You know… back in my day we would chop off the hands of thieves if they had stolen from us. Tell me little boy which is your dominant hand." Now the boy was kicking and the evil smile Athena was giving didn't help his demeanor.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry. I'll give it to you just let me down." He pleaded and Athena gave him a warning look before putting him gently down. He threw a card at her angrily, Athena unfortunately did not catch it and it landed on the dirt. It was a disaster card and just like that, an ordinary trip to the zoo went spiraling down…or up. Dusty air picked up quickly and pushed Athena and everyone else back. People screamed out twister and ran for cover. Stuff kicked up and a stampede of animal ran towards the boy, Fred and Annabeth. Motherly instinct kicked in I hate it when it does that and she quickly flashed them out of there. Annabeth and Fred in case you weren't sure. They landed on a hill five miles away from the zoo, Fred looked dazed but other than that fine and Annabeth repeated "again, again" smiling.

"Maybe another time honey." Athena said wearily.

"You carry a tornado in your back pocket." Fred said outraged.

"It's not like its illegal and this wouldn't have happened if the boy hadn't taken It." she huffed.

"It's not illegal because nobody carries one around. Does it wear off?"

"Eventually…I should go back before it tears this town up." She sighed.

Things went sour impressively fast; the sky was dark and magic infused clouds gathered now and the twister had grown stronger and more powerful in the span of the ten seconds she was gone. If it had been a normal tornado Athena could have easily defused it but it wasn't it was a magical tornado with purple winds and bad karma in it. The boy was nowhere she could see and she suspected him to be dead. Animals and cows flew up and danced high above the ground. She felt bad for the likely deaths that have occurred but she didn't need her conscious distracting her. Fighting against the strong, powerful wind currents she tried to locate the card in the now moving tornado. Really this is what she gets for trying to have a nice, relaxing day out. She kept evading animals and objects but had no luck in finding the boy or the card.

"This is getting ridiculous." She told herself as a stop sign almost crashed into her. She willed the winds to grow still and it did to an extent. The twister had stopped moving and picking up cars so that was an improvement. Horses and barn animals were everywhere and she dodged them trying to locate the dumb tiny card in this chaos. She felt a horse nudge her shoulder and she shooed him with her hand not even bothering to look back or think about it. The next push was more insistent but Athena again ignored him focusing on locating the card. Finally the horse all but slammed its head to her back and Athena yelped not in pain but outrage. What! She thought getting ready to smite the damn horse except when she turned around; it wasn't exactly a horse and not someone she was expecting.

Long time no see Pegasus said cheerfully, the card held between his teeth and the thief boy on his back. Athena and Pegasus had a rocky relationship in the beginning. One of her heroes had decapitated his mother for one thing. The other was that he had been a rebellious foal and a wild winged horse. Then another time, one of her heroes needed a fast ride and Pegasus was like nah son! He liked his freedom and to tame him Athena had invented the bridle. After that he was afraid of her but also begrudgingly respected her. It took a while for them to develop a friendship that they both refused to acknowledge, is a friendship.

Thanks, she said grabbing it from his mouth with the tips of two fingers; it was covered in horse drool. The wind started dying down and objects crashed to the ground, the little boy was still unconscious on the horses back. But did you have to catch it with your mouth…. he snorted that was just like Athena.

Some of us aren't blessed enough to be born with thumbs or human for that matter, she chuckled bowing her head. They both had peculiar births; Athena springing from her father's head and Pegasus from his mothers beheaded neck.

How did you get here anyways? A saddened expression came upon the son of Poseidon as he struggled with resisting the magical winds. They both looked down where the corpses of dead horses and some mortals were sprawled. I sensed my brethren's distress and came to see if I could help. Athena was momentarily filled with pity and faintly of guilt. Let's find a safe place to land the boy. Athena was surprised the boy was still alive but she led Pegasus to the hill where she had left Fred and Annabeth. Fred's eyes expanded to the size of a basketball and his mouth fell open.

"That horse has wings!" he shouted and Annabeth looked at it with fascinated curiosity. Annabeth pulled the boy down and laid him on the grass. Captain obvious much, the horse snorted. He's a lot smarter than he looks Athena said grateful that Fred didn't understand horse. The horse neighed and approached Annabeth who leaned forward on her stroller. Fred shifted uneasily but Athena gave him a reassuring smile.

Hello little one he greeted Annabeth. Annabeth stoked his head oohing. I wonder... if you have intercourse with a man will you give birth to a human or an owl, he joked, knowing he was close to crossing a line but he liked to live dangerously anyways. Athena smile became pained and she gave a heartless laugh like I'm going to kill you. I don't think so; the ability to carry animal sperm is something only the beast you call father can do. Poor, poor unfortunate Demeter.

Touché, he said.

"Don't tell me you're speaking with the horse." Fred interrupted becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the silence.

"Fine, I won't. This is Pegasus by the way." He blinked at the words.

"Like the Pegasus not just the constellation from saint seiya." Athena nodded and he stared blankly at her.

"I need a drink." He said pressing his fingers to his temples trying to forestall an incoming headache.

Saint seiya the horse asked confused and Athena just shook her head. Don't ask, it's just something those strange Asians created. Wisely he chose to let it go.

A/N: I think Pegasus and her would be friends or like acquaintances or something. At least horses don't hate Athena's kids too. Now to plan and write the next chapter. Sorry for any errors that I missed. Now I feel like writing how Fred met Athena by sneaking into a college party lol but no time.